By DAVID KEYTON, JILL LAWLESS and MIKE CORDER
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II was carried out of St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh on Tuesday to start her ultimate journey via Scotland to a Royal Air Force aircraft that may carry her again to London.
A bagpiper performed because the flag-draped coffin was carried out of the cathedral and crowds once more lined the Royal Mile via the historic coronary heart of Edinburgh to observe because the coffin, accompanied by the queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, was pushed away.
Crowds once more lined the Royal Mile via the historic coronary heart of Edinburgh because the coffin, accompanied by the queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, was pushed away.
Thousands of individuals filed silently previous the coffin because it lay within the cathedral for twenty-four hours after being dropped at Edinburgh from the queen’s beloved Balmoral Estate, the place she died Thursday at age 96, ending her 70-year reign.
King Charles III departed Belfast to obtain his mom’s coffin in London, the place it can keep in a single day at Buckingham Palace. The coffin can be taken Wednesday to the Houses of Parliament, the place it can lie in state for 4 days earlier than Monday’s funeral.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows under.
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Cheering crowds greeted King Charles III on Tuesday in Northern Ireland, the place the go to drew a uncommon second of unity from politicians in a area with a contested British and Irish id that’s deeply divided over the monarchy.
Hundreds of individuals lined the road resulting in Hillsborough Castle close to Belfast, the royal household’s official residence in Northern Ireland, within the newest outpouring of affection following Queen Elizabeth II’s loss of life on Sept. 8. The space in entrance of the gates to the fort was carpeted with a whole lot of floral tributes.
Charles and his spouse Camilla, the Queen Consort, received out of their automobile to wave to the gang and generally used each arms to achieve out to villagers, together with schoolchildren in brilliant blue uniforms. Charles even petted a corgi — famously his late mom’s favourite breed of canine — held up by one individual, and a few chanted “God save the king!”
“Today means so much to me and my family, just to be present in my home village with my children to witness the arrival of the new king is a truly historic moment for us all,” stated Hillsborough resident Robin Campbell as he waited for Charles, who’s on a tour of the 4 components of the United Kingdom.
Campbell added: “It is also a day tinged with great sadness as we witness a loving son coming to our village while we are all in mourning for the loss of a truly magnificent queen and his loving mother.”
While there was a heat welcome in Hillsborough, the British monarchy attracts blended feelings in Northern Ireland, the place there are two primary communities: principally Protestant unionists who think about themselves British and largely Roman Catholic nationalists who see themselves as Irish.
That break up fueled three many years of violence often known as “the Troubles” involving paramilitary teams on each side and U.Ok. safety forces, through which 3,600 folks died. The royal household was touched personally by the violence: Lord Louis Mountbatten, a cousin of the queen and a much-loved mentor to Charles, was killed by an Irish Republican Army bomb in 1979.
A deep sectarian divide stays, 1 / 4 century after Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace settlement.
For some Irish nationalists, the British monarch represents an oppressive international energy. But others acknowledge the queen’s position in forging peace. On a go to to Northern Ireland in 2012, she shook arms with Sinn Fein deputy chief Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander – a once-unthinkable second of reconciliation.
Alex Maskey, a Sinn Fein politician who’s speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, stated the queen had “demonstrated how individual acts of positive leadership can help break down barriers and encourage reconciliation.”
In an indication of how far Northern Ireland has come on the highway to peace, representatives of Sinn Fein are attending commemorative occasions for the queen and assembly the king on Tuesday.
Maskey expressed condolences to the king at an occasion in Hillsborough Castle attended by leaders from all the primary political events in Northern Ireland.
Charles responded that his mom “felt deeply, I know, the significance of the role she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated, and in extending a hand to make possible the healing of long-held hurts.”
He stated he would draw on his mom’s “shining example” and “seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of Northern Ireland.”
Still, not everybody was welcoming the brand new king.
On the Falls Road in Belfast, a nationalist stronghold, a number of partitions are adorned with murals of Bobby Sands, an IRA member who died whereas on a starvation strike in jail in 1981, and others killed within the Troubles.
“No, he’s not our king. Bobby Sands was our king here,” stated 52-year-old Bobby Jones. “Queen never done nothing for us. Never did. None of the royals do.”
Later, Charles and Northern Ireland politicians are to attend a “service of reflection” for the queen at St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.
The president and prime minister of the neighboring Republic of Ireland are also because of attend, regardless of tense relations between Dublin and London over Brexit. Since Britain left the European Union in 2020, the U.Ok. and the EU have been wrangling over commerce guidelines for Northern Ireland, the one a part of the U.Ok. that shares a border with a member of the bloc.
On Monday evening, Charles and siblings Anne, Andrew and Edward briefly stood vigil round their mom’s flag-draped coffin in St. Giles Cathedral as members of the general public filed previous.
The following morning, a person carrying a swimsuit adorned with medals stood silently, bowed his head and moved on. A lady dabbed away tears with a handkerchief. Another girl with two younger kids at school uniforms walked slowly previous the coffin.
In the road of mourners outdoors the cathedral within the historic coronary heart of Edinburgh, Sheila McLeay referred to as the queen “a wonderful ambassador for our country.”
“She was such an example for every single one of us. She was dignified. She was just, she was beautiful inside and out. And I have known her all of my life. And I miss her very much,” she added.
The queen’s coffin was scheduled to go away Scotland later Tuesday to be flown again to London and pushed to her official London residence, Buckingham Palace. On Wednesday, will probably be taken via central London to Parliament, the place the queen will lie in state till her funeral in Westminster Abbey on Monday. Hundreds of 1000’s of persons are anticipated to line as much as pay their final respects on the coffin.
The Royal Air Force C-17 Globemaster that may carry the coffin has been used to evacuate folks from Afghanistan and to take humanitarian assist and weapons to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, U.Ok. Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston stated.
Early Tuesday, scores of employees cleaned litter and weeds from the highway from the air drive base the place the aircraft carrying the coffin will land.
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Lawless and Corder reported from London.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com”